Wednesday, July 25, 2007

What The Candidates Are Saying: Hillary

IOWA, July 10 -- Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton traveled to this crucial caucus state today to assure voters that she would keep U.S. troops in Iraq for the foreseeable future because "we cannot lose sight of our very real strategic national interests in this region."

You missed that news story? Me, too. It's not the message Clinton wanted to convey, and it's not the message that reporters took away from her speech.

But it would have been an accurate, if incomplete, rendition of her long address on Iraq policy. That she wanted to go on the record with such a view, but didn't want voters to really hear it, says much about the current Washington bind on Iraq policy.

While this blog has not taken a position on the war, we certainly appreciate Senator Clinton taking the longer-term view of the national security interests of our country.

However, as is the case with Our President's strongest supporters, those who support Senator Clinton and, therefore, U.S. military activities overseas as described, have an obligation to think things through. If they are personally eligible to serve [healthy heterosexuals 41 and under], then they also have an obligation at least to consider volunteering for military service, whether now or in the future.

We note that Senator Clinton has expressed support for repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," which would allow all otherwise qualified Americans, regardless of sexual orientation, to Be A Man! Enlist!